| East Bengal | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former Province of Pakistan | |||||||||||
| 1947–1956 | |||||||||||
.svg) Emblem | |||||||||||
.svg) Location of Bangladesh (then East Bengal) in green and present-day Pakistan (then the Western wing of the country) in light green | |||||||||||
| Capital | Dacca | ||||||||||
| Demonym | Bengali | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1955 | 45,767,684[1] | ||||||||||
| • Type | Provincial government | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 15 August 1947 | |||||||||||
| 29 February 1956 | |||||||||||
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| Today part of |  Bangladesh[a] | ||||||||||
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| This article is part of the series |
| Former administrative units of Pakistan |
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One-unit provinces |
East Bengal (/bɛnˈɡɔːl/;Bengali:পূর্ব বাংলা/পূর্ববঙ্গPurbô Bangla/Purbôbongo) was the easternmost and non-contiguous province of theDominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-dayBangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the British administrativeBengal province and the lion half ofSylhet district from the Assam province. East Bengal existed from 1947 until 1956, when it was re-structured asEast Pakistan under theOne Unit Scheme by theConstitution of Pakistan of 1956. East Bengal had a coastline along theBay of Bengal to the south, and borderedIndia to the north, west, and east and shared a small border with Burma (presently known asMyanmar) to the southeast. It was situated near, but did not share a border withNepal,Tibet, theKingdom of Bhutan and theKingdom of Sikkim. Its capital was Dacca, now known asDhaka.
ThePartition of India, whichdivided Bengal along religious lines, established the borders of the Muslim-majority area of East Bengal. The province existed during the reign of two monarchs,George VI andElizabeth II; and threegovernors-general,Muhammad Ali Jinnah,Khawaja Nazimuddin andGhulam Muhammad. Its provincial governors included a British administrator and several Pakistani statesmen. Its chief ministership was held by leading Bengali politicians.
East Bengal was the most populous and cosmopolitan province in thedominion. It was a hub of political movements, including theBengali language movement and pro-democracy groups. The provincial legislature was theEast Bengal Legislative Assembly.
Between 1905 and 1911, a province calledEastern Bengal and Assam existed in the region as part of theBritish Indian Empire. TheAll India Muslim League was founded in the British province in 1906.
The All India Muslim League adopted theLahore Resolution in 1940, which envisaged the creation of sovereign states in the Muslim-majority areas of eastern and northwestern British India. The League won elections in Bengal in 1946, receiving its largest mandate in the province.
In May 1946,Rohingya Muslim leaders met withMuhammad Ali Jinnah, and asked for a formal annexation of theMayu region. Two months later, the North Arakan Muslim League also askedJinnah to annex the region.[2] Jinnah refused, saying he could not interfere with Burma's internal matters. Proposals were also made to theBurmese government but they were rejected.[3]
TheDistrict of Sylhet inAssam Province also voted to reunite with the rest of East Bengal, and the Muslim League's campaign played a great role in facilitating this. Aplebiscite was held which resulted in joining Pakistan. However, a large part of Sylhet'sKarimganj subdivision was barred due toAbdul Matlib Mazumdar's delegation. TheChittagong Hill Tracts, which had a 97% non-Muslim population (mostlyBuddhist), was awarded toPakistan, by the Boundary Commission, due to it being inaccessible to India and to provide a substantial ruralbuffer to supportChittagong, a major city and port; advocates for Pakistan forcefully argued to the Bengal Boundary Commission that the only approach was through Chittagong.
As a result of these mandates, theMountbatten Plan andRadcliffe Line established East Bengal as a province of the newly formed Dominion of Pakistan in August 1947.
SirKhawaja Nazimuddin, a formerprime minister of Bengal, was the first chief minister of East Bengal after partition. Nazimuddin was a senior leader of the Muslim League and a close confidante of Pakistan's founderMuhammad Ali Jinnah. SirFrederick Chalmers Bourne was the first governor of East Bengal. Partition resulted in making many Hindus to leave East Bengal while Muslims from different parts of the Indian subcontinent migrated to East Bengal. The East–West Bengal border did not see as much violence as seen in the Punjab border between North India and Pakistan.
Jinnah made his sole visit to East Bengal as governor general in 1948. During a speech to students inDacca University, he resisted demands to makeBengali a federal language. His refusal sparked fierce protests among East Bengalis who comprised the majority of Pakistan's population. The proposal for Urdu as the sole national language met with strong opposition in East Bengal, where Urdu considered rather alien, especially in light in Bengali's rich literary heritage.
When Jinnah died in 1948, Nazimuddin became the governor general of Pakistan.
The conservative Muslim League leaderNurul Amin succeeded Nazimuddin as chief minister. According to some sources, Amin had strained relations with the federal government, including Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan and Governor General Khawaja Nazimuddin. Historians have noted that Amin's government was not strong enough to administer the provincial state; it was completely under the control of the central government of Nazimuddin. His government did not enjoy enough power and lacked vision, imagination, and initiatives.
In 1949,Maulana Bhashani led left-wing elements in the Muslim League to break away and form theAwami Muslim League. The new party was joined byHuseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a former prime minister of British Bengal. The new party later dropped the word Muslim, fashioned itself as secular and courted votes from East Bengal's large non-Muslim minorities.
Thelanguage movement reached a climax in 1952. During the unrest, the police shot dead four student activists. This raised more opposition in the region to the Muslim League.[4] Leading politicians in West and East Pakistan called for Amin's resignation. In subsequent provincial elections, Amin lost his seat in the legislative assembly.
In the 1954, theUnited Front coalition resoundingly defeated the Muslim League with a landslide majority. The coalition included the Awami League, theKrishak Praja Party, the Democracy Party andNizam-e-Islam. The esteemed lawyerA. K. Fazlul Huq, popularly known as the Sher-e-Bangla (Lion of Bengal), became chief minister. Huq established theBangla Academy and called for greater provincial autonomy. He wanted the federal government's responsibilities limited to only foreign affairs and defense.
King Saud of Saudi Arabia sent a plane to bring Huq to a meeting with the monarch.[5]The New York Times published an article claiming Huq wanted independence for East Bengal. While visiting Calcutta and New Delhi, Huq was received by Indian leaders. Barely a few months into office, Huq was dismissed by Governor General Ghulam Muhammad due to allegations against of Huq of inciting secession.
AfterGovernor General's rule was withdrawn in 1954,Abu Hussain Sarkar briefly served as chief minister, before Governor General's rule was again imposed.[6] He started the construction ofCentral Shaheed Minar.
Governor General's rule was withdrawn in June 1955.Ataur Rahman Khan of the Krishak Sramik Party was the last chief minister. His government declared 21 February, the anniversary of the language movement, a public holiday. He later resigned on 30 August 1956 over inflation of food grains and subsequent food shortages.[7]
As part of the reform and reorganization policies ofPrime Minister of PakistanMohammad Ali of Bogra, East Bengal was renamed asEast Pakistan by theConstitution of Pakistan adopted on February 29, 1956.
East Bengal existed when Pakistan did not have a written constitution. Instead, the Pakistani courts relied onEnglish common law and theObjectives Resolution.
In 1953, Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin's government was dismissed by Governor General Ghulam Muhammad, in spite of enjoying the confidence of a majority in theConstituent Assembly of Pakistan. The governor general later dissolved the constituent assembly itself.In the case ofFederation of Pakistan v.Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, the speaker of the dissolved constituent assembly challenged the governor general's decision in the Sindh High Court. The case proceeded to the apex court- the Federal Court of Pakistan- where Justice M. Munir ruled in favour of the governor general. JusticeA. R. Cornelius expressed dissent and supported Speaker Khan. The dismissal of the prime minister and assembly was one of the first major blows to democracy and the rule of law in the Pakistani Union.
BegumShaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah called for Pakistan's constituent assembly to convene in Dacca as East Bengal was home to the majority of Pakistan's population.[8]
| Tenure | Governor of East Bengal[9] |
|---|---|
| 15 August 1947 – 31 March 1950 | Sir Frederick Chalmers Bourne |
| 31 March 1950 – 31 March 1953 | Sir Feroz Khan Noon |
| 31 March 1953 – 29 May 1954 | Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman |
| 29 May 1954 – May 1955 | Iskandar Ali Mirza |
| May 1955 – June 1955 | Muhammad Shahabuddin (acting) |
| June 1955 – 29 February 1956 | Amiruddin Ahmad |
| 29 February 1956 | Province of East Bengal renamed as East Pakistan |
| Tenure | Chief Minister of East Bengal[9] | Political Party |
|---|---|---|
| 15 August 1947 – 14 September 1948 | Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin | Muslim League |
| 14 September 1948 – 3 April 1954 | Nurul Amin | Muslim League |
| 3 April 1954 – 29 May 1954 | A. K. Fazlul Huq | United Front |
| 29 May 1954 – August 1955 | Governor's Rule | |
| 20 June 1955 – 29 February 1956 | Abu Hussain Sarkar | Krishak Sramik Party |
| 29 February 1956 | Province of East Bengal renamed as East Pakistan |
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Orient Airways, owned by an East Bengal-based industrialist, launched the first flights betweenKarachi andDacca. The airline later evolved intoPakistan International Airlines.
TheChittagong Tea Auction was established in 1949.
As a result of the Bengali language movement, East Bengal was a center of Bengali cultural activities.
TheUniversity of Dacca was a hotspot of political thought.
TheEast Bengal Regiment was formed on 15 February 1948 following Pakistan's independence and transition from post British rule. The infantry of the newPakistan Army was made up exclusively of men from the western part of the country. It was consequently necessary to raise a regiment in the east. A total of eight battalions were raised.Paramilitary forces like theEast Pakistan Rifles andEast Pakistan Ansars were established, Ansars were deployed to the border areas in 1948 during theIndo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948 to prevent crimes and smuggling.[10]
East Bengal (present-day-Bangladesh) had a population of 19 million people in the year 1800 A.D,[13] of which 10.716 million people were followers ofHinduism representing a majority of about 56.4% of the region's population,[11] while 7.961 million adhered to theMuslim faith, constituting 41.9% of the region's population as 2nd largest community.[14] The smaller number of 323,000 people followedBuddhism,Animism andChristianity, together presenting around 1.7% of the region's population.
The spread of Islam in East Bengal was more the result of conversion than conquest; dissatisfied with Buddhism and opposed to Hinduism, which put the majority of the population of East Bengal into the lower caste, vast numbers of Bengalis were attracted by the Islamic doctrine of the equality of all men before God. But they retained many of their old rituals and incorporated them into their new faith.[15]
Bangladesh's capitalDhaka city name is said to have been derived fromDhakeshwari the patron goddess of the city, whose shrine is located inRamna of Dhaka city.[16] In Bangladesh, there's exist a blending culture of Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, folk religion, deities and practices. Worship exchanges takes place at temples and mosques and religious folk music gatherings (especially at Vaishnavite gatherings and among Muslim Sufis). Folk deities recognized by both Hindus and Muslim have includedShitala, the goddess of small pox,Oladevi, goddess of cholera,Manasa, goddess of snakes and are recognised by Hindus and Muslims of Bangladesh both alike.
Agitation started in 1952 as a reaction against Nazimiid-Din's announcement in Dacca that only Urdu would be the national language. Police opened fire on the demonstrating students, killing four of them. The incident left deep scars on the body politic ... and sealed the fate of the Muslim League in East Pakistan.
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25°13′09″N90°59′20″E / 25.2192°N 90.9889°E /25.2192; 90.9889
